Fancy Tea Bags Could Be Contaminating Your Cup With Billions of Microplastics

When it comes to good consumer habits, numerous (and often conflicting) reports have people questioning everything from their coffee drinking to their phone usage, but until recently, curling up with a warm mug of tea seemed OK. A new study may change that. As the CBC reports, certain types of tea bags could deposit billions of microplastic particles into your tea.

Nathalie Tufenkji, who teaches chemical engineering at McGill University in Montreal, was inspired to investigate the plastic content of tea after ordering the hot beverage from a coffee shop one day. Instead of a classic, compostable paper tea bag, her tea leaves came bundled in a pouch made from a silken material. The item was actually made from plastic, and it was an example of the "fancy" teabags made from nylon and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) that are gaining popularity with certain tea brands.

So what does that mean for your morning cup of tea? According to the researchers' study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, steeping one of these bags in hot water can release up to 11.6 billion microplastic particles and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into your drink. Microplastics are miniscule plastic bits no biggest than a dust mote, and nanoplastics are even smaller. Even with billions of them swirling in your teacup, the particles add up to a total plastic content of just one-sixtieth of a milligram.

Microplastics aren't limited to fancy tea bags. Seafood, table salt, and even tap water all contain tiny pieces of plastic. We consume so much of it that one study found we're excreting 20 particles of the stuff per every quarter pound of waste. But even in a world where microplastics are unavoidable, the numbers in this recent study are noteworthy: Tea made from the plastic tea bags studied contains thousands of times more plastic that what has been observed in other food products.

The study indicates that the plastic content of some teas is high, but it doesn't say what that means for your health. That's because no evidence yet shows microplastics are harmful to humans when ingested. It's possible that the adverse health effects will become more apparent as the current population ages, but it's also possible that the human body deals with microplastics the same way it deals with other environmental toxins.

The tea bag study also comes with some caveats: The researchers looked at only four tea bags (and an additional four were used as controls), so a larger sample size may have revealed that this level of microplastic content isn't found in all tea made from plastic-based bags. If you'd still prefer to avoid mixing plastic with hot beverages, look for tea brands that use biodegradable paper and steer clear of pyramid-shaped bags and other pouches made from silky mesh material. Not only are paper bags lower in plastic contaminants, but they also add less waste to the environment.

This Smart Accessory Converts Your Instant Pot Into an Air Fryer

If you can make a recipe in a slow cooker, Dutch oven, or rice cooker, you can likely adapt it for an Instant Pot. Now, this all-in-one cooker can be converted into an air fryer with one handy accessory.

This Instant Pot air fryer lid—currently available on Amazon for $80—adds six new cooking functions to your 6-quart Instant Pot. You can select the air fry setting to get food hot and crispy fast, using as little as 2 tablespoons of oil. Other options include roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, and reheat.

Many dishes you would prepare in the oven or on the stovetop can be made in your Instant Pot when you switch out the lids. Chicken wings, French fries, and onion rings are just a few of the possibilities mentioned in the product description. And if you're used to frying being a hot, arduous process, this lid works without consuming a ton of energy or heating up your kitchen.

The lid comes with a multi-level air fry basket, a broiling and dehydrating tray, and a protective pad and storage cover. Check it out on Amazon.

For more clever ways to use your Instant Pot, take a look at these recipes.

At Mental Floss, we only write about the products we love and want to share with our readers, so all products are chosen independently by our editors. Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers and may receive a percentage of any sale made from the links on this page. Prices and availability are accurate as of the time of publication.

This Smart Accessory Converts Your Instant Pot Into an Air Fryer

If you can make a recipe in a slow cooker, Dutch oven, or rice cooker, you can likely adapt it for an Instant Pot. Now, this all-in-one cooker can be converted into an air fryer with one handy accessory.

This Instant Pot air fryer lid—currently available on Amazon for $80—adds six new cooking functions to your 6-quart Instant Pot. You can select the air fry setting to get food hot and crispy fast, using as little as 2 tablespoons of oil. Other options include roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, and reheat.

Many dishes you would prepare in the oven or on the stovetop can be made in your Instant Pot when you switch out the lids. Chicken wings, French fries, and onion rings are just a few of the possibilities mentioned in the product description. And if you're used to frying being a hot, arduous process, this lid works without consuming a ton of energy or heating up your kitchen.

The lid comes with a multi-level air fry basket, a broiling and dehydrating tray, and a protective pad and storage cover. Check it out on Amazon.

For more clever ways to use your Instant Pot, take a look at these recipes.

At Mental Floss, we only write about the products we love and want to share with our readers, so all products are chosen independently by our editors. Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers and may receive a percentage of any sale made from the links on this page. Prices and availability are accurate as of the time of publication.